


Shapes

by Subtly Spectre (fishstic)



Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 - Fandom, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, I have no idea, I promise, I tagged female shep even though my shep is agender, Multi, My head hurts, because I wasn't sure if it would show up in the right places if I only tagged shepard, fluff ending, in the relationships I mean, it's kind of weird, like it's simultaneously fluff and not fluff, the author doesn't know how to shut up in the tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-13 17:58:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11190351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishstic/pseuds/Subtly%20Spectre
Summary: Mikah Shepard's least favorite shape is a love triangle. They've been told their whole life that loving more than one person is wrong and bad, so when they figured out that they love Tali'Zorah even though they were already dating Liara, they panicked and decided to pretend like it wasn't something that was happening. But Mikah's a shit liar. It was easy enough to ignore when Liara wasn't around, but after being reunited with Liara and taking down the Shadow Broker, hiding it became a challenge--especially since Liara knows all of Mikah's tells.





	1. Liara

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I'm bad at summaries. There's three chapters, and they're all complete as of posting this first one, but my beta only managed to finish the first chapter before going to sleep, so the other two will be up within the next three days (but probably tomorrow June 14). //The reason for it not just being a one-shot is the sections/chapters are from Liara - Tali - Mikah's perspectives (respectively) and it just felt easier.

It was what Mikah had asked for, but somehow Liara wasn’t convinced that it was what Mikah actually wanted. Still, she had come over to the Normandy anyway. “I can stay for a day or two, at most,” she had told Mikah, who had proceeded to try and weakly argue for her to stay forever, before even coming over. Liara’s smile had faltered. Mikah’s heart wasn’t in the argument. Something was wrong.

She stood in the doorway, watching Mikah sitting on their bed reading something on a datapad, for several minutes; the intensity of their concentration worried her. Mikah hadn’t even noticed she was there. Considering that it was Mikah’s idea that she come there in the first place, this was odd.

“Shepard,” she said quietly. “What are you reading that’s so interesting?”

Mikah started and dropped the datapad onto their bed. “I—uhh—just…shit.”

“You were concentrating so hard,” she continued gently. “I must have startled you. I am sorry. If you’re busy, I can leave.”

“No, please stay,” Mikah said, their voice slightly strained like it was trying and failing to hold back all its emotions. “I’m sorry. It’s not important, the thing I was reading I mean. Just… something about engineering.”

“Planning on building something?” she asked. It was a logical assumption, unless Mikah had meant engineering like the section of the ship in charge of making sure the ship actually runs.

“In a manner of speaking, I was planning on asking Tali to help me build something,” Mikah said. For a moment, there was the brightest light in Mikah’s eyes, the kind of light that was there every time they said ‘I love you’, and a slight smile on their face then both were gone. They stopped talking for a moment, seeming to consider their words carefully before saying, “It’s nothing, it can wait. You deserve all of me right now.”

“Is something wrong, Shepard?” she asked carefully. “You know you can talk to me about anything.”

“It’s nothing, I swear,” Mikah replied and stood up. “How do you keep getting more beautiful every time I see you?”

“Time changes things,” she replied as Mikah reached out and took her hand gently. She used her free hand to trace a line across the bridge of Mikah’s nose where a very prominent scar used to be before the whole ‘being rebuilt and brought back to life’ thing. Mikah shivered slightly. “Are you sure nothing is bothering you?”

“Liara, I’m fine,” Mikah said.

It was a lie and Liara  _ knew _ it. Mikah had a lot of tells when they lied, most of which only someone who knew them really well could notice, like the tendency they had to slightly drop in volume at the end of a sentence when they were lying. Most people never noticed it, but Liara did, she had to. It was one of the few ways she had to know when something was upsetting Mikah. Goddess knows that human never liked talking about their feelings. But out of respect, or maybe being afraid, Mikah would shut down and stop talking at all. She didn’t push the issue.

“I still love you,” Mikah said. The light was back, and it was still beautiful.

Liara blinked. Of all the things Mikah could have said next, that was the one that she wasn’t expecting. “I still love you too.”

Mikah smiled, but there was something sad about it, which confused Liara.  _ Do they think I don’t know about their crush on Tali? Are they scared that I do? _

“Mikah, what happens next? After all this is over. If it all ended tomorrow, no more fighting, no more running. Galaxy saved, crisis averted. What then?” she asked.

Mikah hesitated for a moment. Their mouth twitched slightly as they tried to work out an answer. They whispered under their breath rather sadly, ‘a future, without Tali?’ before they finally said an answer. “I don’t know. Marriage, happiness, and a lot of little blue children? I’d go anywhere with you, do anything for you. I’ve… never really had a place to be, a purpose, without things to fight, people to protect, missions to complete. But I’d follow you into the depths of hell, then help you fight your way back out, if it’s what you want. All _ I _ want, is to know that you still love me. That… that I won’t lose you.”

Liara smiled slightly. She couldn’t bring up the crush on Tali right now, it was  _ hurting _ Mikah for some reason and the last thing she wanted was to make Mikah cry when they were supposed to be having a date. “I’m not sure I can promise that, Mikah. Not with the way things are right now. But in that almost perfect—actually fairly boring if we don’t throw in some adventure somehow—future, you won’t lose me. I still love you. Nothing will change that.”

“Really?” Mikah asked their voice now holding a tone that Liara had never heard before. “You mean that?”

“Of course, I mean that,” she replied. “Mikah, what’s wrong?”

“I just… it’s…” They trailed off for a moment, squeezing their eyes shut for a second then saying quickly, “It’s nothing. Never mind. Can we just… do something fun? Just the two of us?”

“Something fun,” Liara said. “What did you have in mind?”

“Anything,” Mikah said. “I don’t care as long as we do it together. Would you like to play with my hamster?”

“Is that what they’re calling it now?” Liara asked with a chuckle, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

“No, like… actual hamster, his name is Squeeks,” Mikah replied, pointing at the hamster cage they had set up in the corner of the room.

“You have a pet hamster?” Liara asked looking over at the cage and smiling as the little brown and white fuzzball came out from his little house. “He’s adorable!”

Mikah smiled and went over to the hamster cage. They opened the cage up and whispered, “Come here Squeeks, and meet one—my future wife.”

Squeeks squeaked as Mikah carried him over to Liara.

“Hello, Squeeks. Aren’t you just the cutest little furball in space,” Liara said gently petting his head with the index finger of her left hand. “Cutie. Can you do any tricks?”

Squeeks tilted his head then jumped off Mikah’s hand and scurried over to the bed, climbing up the blanket to get on top of it. He turned around and struck a pose for them.

“I love him,” Liara said.

Mikah smiled and walked over to the bed. “Squeeks. Head stand,” they told him holding their arm down for him. He climbed up their arm and hair, getting onto their head and striking another pose. “He’s so talented, I love him.”

Together they played with Squeeks for about half an hour before he curled up on Liara’s hand and started to fall asleep.

“Time for him to go back into the cage,” Mikah said quietly.

Liara smiled and nodded, and carefully walked over to the cage so that she could put Squeeks back inside. After doing that, she turned around and noticed the scrap metal and electronics on Mikah’s desk. “Mikah, are you working on something over here?”

Mika came over and looked. “Yeah, that thing I want to ask Tali to help with. It’s nothing important but please don’t touch it,” they said as Liara reached out to poke at some of the scraps.

“If you’re not tired, I’d like to see you work on it, I miss being able to watch you work—on things other than the battlefield I mean,” Liara said.

“I’m not sure I know how to do any of this stuff though,” Mikah said as they sat down in the chair at their desk and started poking around the scraps. After a bit, they picked up their omni-tool from beside a framed picture of Liara that was sitting on the desk.

“If it’ll help, I could ask Tali to come assist you,” Liara suggested, an idea formulating in her head.

Mikah didn’t reply, just nodded slightly as they were reading something on their omni-tool.


	2. Tali

Tali smiled slightly, though no one could see it clearly, as she walked into Mikah’s quarters. Liara had asked her to come up and assist Mikah with… whatever Mikah was working on that they wouldn’t let Liara touch. Mikah was sitting at their desk, focused on their omni-tool and bits of scrap metal and broken electronics scattered in front of her.

“Shepard, is something wrong?” Tali asked quietly as she noticed Mikah wasn’t focused on what they were doing and their chair was sliding back from their desk. “You’re going to—“

Mikah let out a small curse as the chair slipped out from under them, sending them and all the bits of scrap that they were working with toppling to the floor. They stood up quickly, smoothing out their shirt. “I meant to do that.”

“Really?” Tali asked. “I don’t see how that could be conducive to what you’re working on. What  _ are _ you working on?”

“No, Tali, Mikah didn’t mean to do that, they’re just clumsy,” Liara said as she walked over to them. “Are you okay?”

“A robot, and yes, I’m fine,” Mikah said gathering up their scrap from the floor.

“A robot,” Liara said. She gave Mikah a half exasperated half judgmental look.

“Don’t look at me like that. A VI but with a body,” Mikah said, “not just a hologram.”

“For what purpose?” Tali inquired.

“For the purpose of being cool,” Mikah replied. After a second and a couple of confused looks from both Tali and Liara, Mikah sighed and continued, “I just want to see if I can.”

“Making a robot isn’t going to be easy, Shepard. Not when all you have to work with are scraps.”

“That’s why I asked you for help,” Mikah said with a smile.

Tali walked over and examined the scraps on Mikah’s desk. Some of them looked distinctly Geth. “Where did you even get these?”

“I kicked the Geth where it hurts and nicked some of the pieces,” Mikah replied poking at a couple of the pieces. “It’s not like any of these little parts can turn back into a Geth.” Mikah smiled proudly and then after a second it faltered. “Can they?”

“I doubt it, Shepard,” Tali replied. “You seem to have nothing more than metal and wires here. You can’t make a robot with this. You need circuit boards, capacitors, a power source of some kind, and a couple other things. I can make a list, maybe we’ll find some of the things the next time we’re ‘kicking the Geth where it hurts’.” She moved a couple of the pieces aside, her hand accidentally brushing Mikah’s as she did so.

“You do that… I’ll be right back.” Mikah slipped out of the room quickly.

“Did… did I say something wrong?” Tali asked, looking at Liara and tilting her head slightly.

Liara shook her head slightly. “Mikah has a crush on you and is pretending like they don’t because they don’t want me to know.”

“They’re not very good at it,” Tali remarked as she started to type up the list of what they’d need on her omni-tool. “Wait, Mikah has a crush on me?”

“Yes,” Liara replied. “They do. Pretty bad at hiding it, too.”

“How did you figure it out?” Tali asked.

“Like I said, they’re pretty bad at hiding it,” Liara said. “It’s the little things mostly, the way they smile when you’re around, how their face lights up when they talk about you.”

“Are you okay with that?” Tali asked. “I know that Mikah loves you. Are you okay with them having a crush on someone else?”

“If I wasn’t, I would have already told them that I know about the crush,” Liara replied. “I just wish I knew why they’re trying to hide it.”

Tali nodded then after a moment said, “Maybe humans have something against loving more than one person at a time?” She typed in several items into the list, then stopped and looked over the items on the desk and poked at them. Without knowing what kind of VI Mikah planned on putting inside the robot she wasn’t entirely sure what all they would realistically need. After a moment of poking around, her hand passed over something and a small hologram version of Mikah popped up on the desk.

“I kill data like you on my way to real errors,” it said before glitching out and saying, “Maybe you should fix this error yourself, I have a galaxy to save.” Then it crashed.

“They still have that?” Tali chuckled. “I would have thought they would have gotten rid of it by now.”

“Illegal Shepard VI,” Liara observed.

“Apparently Mikah was dead when the VI started being sold,” Tali said. “Pretty glitchy too. I think it might have been made by a child, or if not a child, someone with very little experience making VI.”

“It’s pretty impressive,” Liara said. “Do you think maybe that’s the VI Mikah wants to put a body to?”

“Maybe they want to give EDI a body,” Tali joked.

“I am an AI, not a VI,” EDI replied from her little spot beside the fish tank. “And no one is putting me in scraps.”

“Right, sorry,” Tali said. “Perhaps they do want to give the Shepard VI a body, but just moving it from a hologram to a body wouldn’t fix its errors.”

“Maybe we could fix the errors?” Liara suggested. “Mikah’s birthday is coming up, they might appreciate that.”

Tali nodded. “We could try. Maybe along the way we could figure out why Mikah won’t admit to the crush?”

“Ashley might know,” Liara said.

“Last I heard, Ashley was mad at Shepard,” Tali said. “Mikah was pretty upset by that.”

Liara nodded. “I can imagine why. Ashley was the one who convinced Mikah to tell me that they like me.”

“Maybe Miranda knows?” Tali suggested.

“You think Miranda would keep it secret that we’re asking?” Liara asked pointedly.

“You’ve got a point,” Tali said. “If not them, then who?”

“Joker may know the answer,” EDI supplied.

“Why are you still listening to us?” Liara asked, not annoyed just confused.

EDI was silent for a moment before saying, “Because Shepard is talking to Joker about this exact same topic.”

“Wait really?” Liara asked.

“I would not lie to you,” EDI said. “You would just figure it out and complain about it. Yes, Shepard asked Joker if he has ever loved more than one person at a time and Joker’s response was to ask if Shepard meant other than his parents. It may interest you to know that Shepard has also asked that question to Miranda, Jacob, Jack, Garrus, and Dr. Chakwas. If you really want an answer to how humans in general feel about this, ask Kelly.”

“Kelly is a psychologist,” Liara said. “Tali, let’s go ask her.”

“Right now?” Tali asked as Liara started to head to the door.

“Why not, you can give her the list and she’ll remind Shepard about it,” Liara said.

Tali followed Liara out of the room quickly. “EDI remind me to feed the fish when we come back,” she said as she passed EDI’s little place.

“Of course,” EDI replied.

After they were outside of the room, Tali stopped for a second. “You meant for this to happen the whole time, didn’t you?”

Liara stopped as well and turned to Tali. “I could tell that something was bothering Mikah while we were fighting through the Shadow Broker’s lair. Especially when you got incapacitated during that final fight. I spent some time thinking about it, and came to the conclusion that they were worried. About both of us. More so than usual.”

Tali nodded. That did make sense, Mikah had been rather tense and jumpy that whole time. She’d just figured it was because of the storm. Well, that and the fact that they’d only just gotten Liara back.

“When they came back to visit me after making sure you were alright, I made sure to ask them about you. More than just if you were alright, I asked Mikah to tell me how they had gotten you back to working with them,” Liara said. “If you had been there and seen the look on their face when they talked about you, you probably would have came to the same conclusion I did, that Mikah has a major crush on you. You also probably would have told them they were exaggerating some details.”

“I’m sure they were,” Tali said. “I understand that. You figuring out about the crush, I understand. You are very intelligent and observant, more so now than you were when we first met. What I don’t understand is how that led to what we’re doing now.”

“When I asked Mikah what happens next, when everything is over and there’s no more wars to fight,” Liara said, “they were hesitant. It hurt them to pretend like they don’t love you too. More so, I think it hurt them to think that I might not understand, which is, I think, why they didn’t mention it. Mikah loves me, enough to deny part of themself in order to not hurt me or give me wrong ideas about them. They love you that much too, I think. That’s why I called you up to help Mikah when they told me about not knowing how to make the scraps into something that actually works. I thought that if I told you about the crush, maybe you’d tell me that you’d already noticed, or even barring that, that you’d be willing to help me get Mikah to actually talk about it.”

Tali nodded again. “If this is hurting Mikah, then we need to get them to talk. I do think that first we need to talk to Kelly and see if she might know what about this has made Mikah so hesitant to admit it. I don’t like that Mikah is getting hurt by loving us.”

“I don’t like it either,” Liara said. “Mikah deserves to be happy. They need a chance to enjoy the little things.”

“Like their hamster?” Tali asked.

“The hamster, the model ships, the fish, the people they love,” Liara said. “From what I understand, they never got those chances, those things, as a child. N7 training is fairly secretive, I honestly don’t know what Mikah went through for that. But their career has been anything but fun.”

“Akuze, the war against Saren and his Geth, literally dying, this whole business with the Reapers and Collectors,” Tali said. “None of that is good. Honestly, I’m not sure how Mikah is still holding themself together after all of that.”

“Neither am I,” Liara admitted. “But I want it to be possible for them to be happy, and I think what would make them most happy would be allowing themself to love both of us. Tell me, Tali. You know that I’m okay with Shepard loving us both at the same time, but are you okay with it?”

“I don’t mind sharing, and I don’t think that love should be confined to just one person,” Tali said. “If Mikah has enough love for both of us, then it would be cruel to tell them that they have to pick. It might be a little difficult to work with at first, until we all get used to it, but it can be done. I don’t see why it can’t. One thing about it though, you and I will probably need to become the best team the galaxy has ever seen. What’s the term humans use… best friends? Is there something stronger than that, but not dating? If there is, that’s what we need to be.”

“I think we can manage that,” Liara said smiling.

Tali nodded. “We should do this before Mikah comes back.” She followed Liara into the elevator and down a level to the CIC.

After they stepped off the elevator, Liara paused. “I don’t know who Kelly is. Maybe I didn’t think this through completely.”

“You know she’s a psychologist, but not who she actually is?” Tali asked with a tilt of her head.

“I didn’t talk to her last time I was here,” Liara replied.

“Understandable,” Tali replied, smiling again even though she knew it wouldn’t be easy for Liara to tell she was doing it. “Kelly is right over here.” She led Liara over to Kelly who was standing by the galaxy map.

“I heard my name,” Kelly said as she turned around. She grinned. “Hi, Tali. Ooh, who’s your friend?”

“Liara T’Soni,” Tali replied.

“Shepard’s girlfriend?” Kelly asked. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Liara replied with a nod.

“Kelly, there’s something we want to ask you, but can you not tell Shepard that we asked?” Tali said.

Kelly tilted her head, and glanced behind her toward the front of the ship. “Alright, I don’t think Shepard can hear us here, but if you’d rather we talk about it somewhere else I can do that.”

“Here is fine,” Tali said. “Right, Liara?”

Liara nodded. “What do you know about the general human feeling toward loving more than one person?”

Kelly tilted her head for a moment, then said, “In general, most humans are against it. Well… the most  _ vocal _ humans are against it.”

“Why?” Tali asked. “What’s so bad about loving more than one person?”

“Humanity has this problem of being really self-centered, as I’m sure you’ve noticed,” Kelly said. “That doesn’t just mean when they’re around other races. It also means that a lot humans take their own experiences and feelings and decided that it’s what’s universally right for everyone, and anything else is wrong. The vocal majority of humans are monogamous, and assume that if you like someone other than the person you’re dating, you’re ‘a horrible person’. There’s a whole culture of people, cheaters, who think it’s fun to be dating someone and go behind their back to have sex with other people. There’s a subset of them who treat the fact that they've done it like a joke or something to brag about later. Because of this, and the fact that it’s extremely rude to do something like that, most people tend to be really against anything that might even suggest you’re one of  _ those _ people. Things like: liking another person, holding hands with a friend, smiling at someone ‘the wrong way’, some even go far as to say that if you’re dating someone you shouldn’t even talk to other people you might like.”

“I assume that just because the majority think this, doesn’t make it true for everyone,” Liara said.

“That would be correct,” Kelly said. “A lot of humans feel love for more than one person at a time. The term is polyamorous. It’s not wrong, some people are just wired for that. Still, it can be difficult. Navigating a relationship with only one person is hard enough. The more people, the harder it becomes. There’s the added pressure that the vocal majority puts on being monogamous. The vocal majority tends to be, well, vocal. The less nice of them like to call polyamorous people greedy, or accuse them of being cheaters—which carries a highly negative social stigma, as you may be aware—, or insinuate that being promiscuous or addicted to sex is the  _ only _ reason someone could possibly have for wanting to be with multiple people. It can lead polyamorous people to hate or doubt themselves or even be afraid of love perhaps even terrified of  _ talking _ about love, especially if there’s more than one person that they love.” She stopped talking for a moment then said, “Does that help?”

“Yes, it does,” Liara said.

“Thank you very much,” Tali added. “Oh, before I forget, I have a list of things Shepard needs to find. If I give you a copy, can you make sure they don’t forget about it?”


	3. Mikah

“What are you two doing down here?”  Mikah asked when they spotted their gir—when they saw Liara and Tali standing near Kelly as they were heading back up to their room. It had been a nice chat with Joker, even though he mostly didn’t answer the question he’d been asked, instead choosing to joke that he thought they would adopt all the orphans in the galaxy given the chance—which actually had very little to do with what they’d asked.

“Tali was just giving me the list of things she needs you to find,” Kelly said. “And introducing me to your girlfriend.” Then Kelly smiled at them and added, “Nice job, by the way. Prettiest Asari I’ve ever met.”

Mikah blushed and smiled. “I’m really lucky that she likes me.”

“You’re lucky that I like  _ nerds _ ,” Liara replied. “Come back up to the room, Mikah.” Liara smiled flirtatiously at Mikah as she gently tugged on Tali’s arm to get her to follow. “We’ll be waiting.”

Mikah stared after them as they left. They knew they should follow them, but something about this whole thing seemed off.

“Aren’t you going to follow them?” Kelly asked.

“What were they really doing down here?” Mikah replied, despite knowing most people hated when they answered a question with another question.

“I’m not going to answer that, Shepard,” Kelly replied.

“Well, that makes it all suddenly ominous,” Mikah said. “Whatever it was, it was probably about me, wasn’t it?”

“I can’t answer that,” Kelly said. “I literally can’t. I don’t know why they asked what they did. Just that they told me not to tell you, and even if they hadn’t told me that, telling you would be unprofessional.”

“So, it’s something psychological?” Mikah guessed. “Wonder if they found… never mind, I’ll figure it out. Thanks, Kelly.”

“You’re welcome, Shepard.”

Mikah nodded slightly and headed toward the elevator so they could go back to their room and figure out what Liara and Tali want.  _ This probably isn’t good. _ There weren’t very many things that Liara and Tali could have asked Kelly about that Kelly wouldn’t have told them. Whatever it was, it couldn’t possibly be good.

Mikah hesitated outside their own door. It wasn’t like they expected Liara and Tali to be waiting half naked or anything. That would be weird. But, there was the possibility that Liara and Tali would be waiting, angry.  _ Why can’t I just be normal? Why can’t I just love my girlfriend and only her. Why do I have to have a crush on Tali too? Why? Why! _ They bit their lip and took a deep breath, then headed into the room.

For a second, Mikah was confused that Tali and Liara weren’t standing by the desk, or by Squeeks’ cage. They looked over to the bed and saw that Liara and Tali were sitting on the edge of it, together.  _ Shit. Are they mad? What did I do? _

“Mikah,” Liara said from the bed. “Come over here, please.”

“What is this?” Mikah asked as they walked over slowly. “Some kind of intervention? I swear that I didn’t want the maga—“

“This isn’t about the porn magazines Joker’s been sending you as a prank,” Liara replied.

“How did…”

“Shadow Broker, remember?” Liara said. “And, yes. It  _ is _ an intervention of sorts.”

“We know you have a crush on me, Mikah,” Tali said.

Mikah’s face paled.  _ No no no. _ It was like their nightmares but worse because it was really happening.

“And we know why you’re scared to talk about it,” Liara said.

Mikah started to back away then froze.  _ NO. _ They bit their lip and shook their head, tears starting to fall from their eyes. “No,” they whispered.

“Mikah, it’s okay,” Liara said gently.

“No,” Mikah whispered, a little louder.

“Mikah, I know that you’re scared because you think that I’m going to hate you or think you’re a cheater or something,” Liara said.

Mikah bit their lip, trying to make themself stop crying.  _ It’s not right. Not fair. Why? Why! Why can’t I just be normal for like two seconds. _

“But it’s not true,” Liara continued. “The fact that you’ve been trying so hard to pretend like you don’t have a crush on Tali, to ignore that, to let it hurt you so you don’t end up hurting either of us,  _ proves _ you’re not one of them.”

“No,” Mikah whispered. “No. I’m a bad person.”

“You’re not a bad person, Mikah,” Tali said.

“Please come sit down with us,” Liara said.

Mikah shook their head, still crying. “No, I’m not good.”

Liara and Tali exchanged a look and then Liara stood up. She walked over and gently hugged Mikah. Tali did the same.

“You’re more than good,” Liara said quietly. “You’re perfect.”

“You don’t need to be scared of loving both of us,” Tali said. “We talked it out, and we both love you. We don’t think it’s right or fair for you to have to pick, because we know it hurts you to do so.”

“Tali’s right,” Liara said. “I know that you can get lonely without me, you told me so when we met back up on Illium. I want you to be able to be a little less lonely, to be happy. Would being with Tali make you happy?”

Mikah nodded fearfully, waiting for—expecting—an ‘aha got you, we’re actually really angry’ moment. It didn’t make sense to them. They didn’t deserve nice things, that’s just the way it worked. They weren’t good. A hero, maybe, but one who was pretty much an outcast at this point, working with people who two years ago tried multiple times to kill them.

“Mikah,” Liara said quietly. “I know people have probably said some bad things to you, about you, but you need to remember that you are amazing. You’re Commander Shepard, you saved the council, you stopped Saren, you’re going to stop the reapers, you’re humanity’s first Spectre. You are more than the bad things people say about you.”

“I didn’t do those things,” Mikah said, then before either Tali or Liara could argue with them added, “ _ We _ did those things. Together. I couldn’t have done them without either of you. Except for becoming the human spectre, but that’s nitpicking. You two are the reason I’m still here, the reason I’m still fighting. I have to stop the reapers. Save the galaxy, but I don’t have to do it alone. I have you, both of you.” They took a deep breath. They knew that they were still crying, but at least they could pretend to be brave. Tali and Liara wanted them to be happy. It wouldn’t be wise to push them away.

“Mikah,” Tali said, “What would you like to do?”

“I… I think I just want to sleep…” Mikah looked down. “Like maybe forever. Can I sleep through the war with the Reapers?”

“You would sleep through all this fun?” Liara joked.

“And miss both of us?” Tali added.

Mikah shook their head quickly. “Absolutely not. But I am kind of tired, I… I’m sorry, Liara. Pretty bad date this has been.”

“What are you talking about, Mikah?” Liara asked. “It’s been a great date. I got to spend time with you, I helped you find a second girlfriend. What could be better than that?”

“I can think of maybe like one thing,” Mikah said, “but it doesn’t involve clothes.”

Liara laughed and so did Tali. “Maybe another day then?” Liara suggested.

“Tomorrow is another day,” Mikah noted playfully, but the sentence was punctuated by a yawn.

“Did you even sleep last night, Shepard?” Tali asked quietly.

Mikah shook their head and said sheepishly, “No.”

Liara pulled away from the hug then, without a word and walked over to the dresser at the side of the room. Tali stopped hugging Mikah too, but only because she had turned around to see what Liara was doing. Tali ducked out of the way quickly as Liara tossed an oversized shirt at Mikah.

“What’s this—“

“It’s one of your ‘sleep shirts’, Mikah. You’re going to sleep,” Liara said. “Doctors orders.”

“You’re not that kind of doctor,” Mikah argued with a yawn.

“Mikah, you need sleep,” Tali said. “Don’t argue with your girlfriends.”

Mikah nodded, warmth spreading through themself, overwhelming all thoughts that it would turn out that they were being pranked, at hearing Tali refer to herself and Liara as their girlfriends. “I wouldn’t dream of disappointing either of you.”

“Good,” Tali said. “Get some sleep.”

“What about the two of you?” Mikah asked slightly pouting.

“We’ll join you soon, but I need to get something first,” Tali said.

EDI spoke up interrupting them all, “Dr. T’Soni, Vakarian says he would like to speak with you for a moment, if you have time.”

“I’ll handle this, while Tali is getting what Tali needs to get,” Liara said. “Then we’ll come back, and we’ll cuddle with you. Is that good for you, Tali?”

Tali nodded. “It is, though I expect Mikah to  _ already _ be asleep when we get back.” Her tone was that of a playful warning.

Mikah nodded and smiled softly at both of them as they started to head out of the room. “Hurry back,” and more quietly, “I love you.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was started for/because of mass effect poly week and then got out of hand because I ended up with some commissions and a lot of feelings. That's just how life works I guess.


End file.
